1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to plastic bag dispensers and more particularly to an outer permanent housing for containing dispensable cardboard boxes of plastic storage bags that can be of varying sizes, wherein the housing has springs which, (1) align dispensing openings of the cardboard box and the housing, (2) adjust to grip boxes of various widths, and (3) secure the cardboard box during use from movement.
2. General Background
Several types and sizes of disposable plastic storage bags are provided in roll form or packed tightly side by side within a cardboard disposable box. These bags are used for lining garbage cans and garbage pails, for collecting debris such as leaves and grass cuttings, and for storing food items such as frozen fish, vegetables, and the like. Disposable storage bags can be clear, or colored such as white or black. Plastic storage bags come in varying sizes and the cardboard boxes which contain them also have varying dimensions though they are typically rectangular or square in cross-sections. Many commercially available disposable cardboard boxes containing plastic bags provide a longitudinally extending slot. Oftentimes, the slot is closed when the box is purchased and the slot is opened by tearing off a serrated cardboard member. Storage bags are commercially available, and are sold under the following trademarks for example, "Zip-Lock", "Glad" bag, "Hefty" bag, and others which are well known.
A problem exists in that these boxes differ in dimensions from manufacturer to manufacturer and also from size to size. A sloppy storage problem is created when a particular household has food storage bags, trash bags, lawn clean-up bags, and others which are of various sizes. Typically, these boxes are stacked upon shelves where they are difficult to access and generally create clutter.
Dispensers are commonly available for dispensing paper products such as e.g., tissue, towels, and disposable cups. For example U.S. Pat. No. 282,785 issued to Shoff entitled "Closet Paper Holder", shows a container having a forwardly opening lid with a leaf spring positioned on the rear surface of the lid for forcing paper products forwardly.
A paper towel dispenser is the subject of U.S. Pat. No. 2,884,162 issued to Crebbs and entitled "Dispenser Containers".
The Hope U.S. Pat. No. 2,081,177 shows an example of a cup dispenser which has a longitudinally, vertically extending housing having a lowermost open bottom with tabs that secure the cups and allows them to be withdrawn one at a time.
Some patents relate to the problem of dispensing a stack of cards one at a time such as can be seen in the Joy U.S. Pat. No. 622,807 and in the Hansen U.S. Pat. No. 4,623,073.
The Thomasma U.S. Pat. No. 2,299,940 entitled "Paper Towel and Seat Cover Dispenser" shows a housing having a dispensing opening with storage for a plurality of flexible paper members contained within the housing.
A dispenser for storage bags is the subject of U.S. Pat. No. 2,811,280 issued to Comisso.
These prior art patents deal primarily with the problem of dispensing loose items which are not contained within an overall disposable box structure that can be of various sizes. Thus, these patents deal with products that are put inside of a dispenser which is specifically sized to contain the particular product being dispensed, thus not able to handle product variation.
Unfortunately, with plastic bags such as trash bags, storage bags and the like, the size of the item varies widely as does the size of the disposable cardboard box in which they are contained. These prior references do not provide an automatic adjustable tensioning mechanism which registers the box in a proper dispensing position with respect to the housing so that boxes of various sizes can be used within a single dispenser and for dispensing bags from a roll or from a stacked arrangement.